--- title: Bad Posture Affects Mood and Confidence description: Science has a long history of proving that how we arrange our muscles affects how we feel about ourselves. Even the Botox we inject comes... canonical: https://time.com/3394589/slumping-makes-you-sad/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-18T16:13:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:15:12.799Z article:section: Health og:title: Bad Posture Makes You Sad and Afraid, Study Finds og:description: Straighter posture is linked to better mood and self-esteem og:url: https://time.com/3394589/slumping-makes-you-sad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bad Posture Makes You Sad and Afraid, Study Finds twitter:description: Straighter posture is linked to better mood and self-esteem twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Bad Posture Makes You Sad and Afraid, Study Finds > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 18, 2014 4:13 PM UTC  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 18, 2014 4:13 PM UTC Science has a long history of proving that how we arrange our muscles affects how we feel about ourselves. Even the Botox we inject comes with the happy side effect of less depression, [one study found](http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/27/how-treating-wrinkles-may-also-relieve-depression/). A less invasive path to an instant mood lift is to simply sit up straight, according to a new [study](http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2014-37739-001/) published in _Health Psychology_. Researchers studied what effect slumped or straightened posture had on the hearts and minds of 74 people in New Zealand, who were strapped into their assigned postures with tape. Their blood pressure and heart rates were measured as they completed a series of tasks designed to assess their mood, self-esteem and stress levels. If this is all starting to sound like ballet class, well, your teacher was onto something. Being an upright citizen provides all kinds of benefits. “The upright participants reported feeling more enthusiastic, excited, and strong, while the slumped participants reported feeling more fearful, hostile, nervous, quiet, still, passive, dull, sleepy, and sluggish,” study authors write. Good posture was also associated with higher self-esteem, less social fear and fewer negative emotions. That’s not all: they also had stronger pulse responses than their slumped friends. If you don’t have a researcher to tape you into your chair, try these [five easy moves to better posture](http://time.com/2830660/stretches-improve-posture/). 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